Why Do You Care?
by bookgirl478
Summary: Yay! First Fanfiction! R&R be gentle lol. Its a story through those three years we all know and love! It may not be totally accurate to the timeline, but its kind of close. I'm still figuring out some things about Fanfiction so tell me about mistakes
1. Chapter 1

_Why do You Care?_

The sun warmed the sky as a slim, tall figure stepped onto the balcony of her room. Bulma Briefs fluffed her aqua curls and leaned over the railing to see her mother laying in a chair next to the pool, sunbathing. She sighed and went back into her room. Only her mother would be tanning at eight in the morning. Her father was probably still sleeping half of the day away, and her none too polite houseguest was probably training like he always did.

She dressed in jeans, a pink v-cut shirt, and her lab jacket and headed downstairs. Breakfast was usually a solo event unless Vegeta had skipped dinner. Then, it was usually a grab-what-you-can situation that involved plenty of swearing and complaining from both sides. As Bulma finished, her mother entered in her bathing suit.

"Oh, hey dear what are you doing up this early?" She asked, whipping off her sunglasses and setting them down on the table.

"Eating." Bulma said shortly. She was far from a morning person.

"Well, I can't believe you have to wake up this early!" Mrs. Briefs grabbed a glass and filled it with water then faced her daughter. "What keeps you so busy?"

"Vegeta, lab work, Vegeta." Bulma said tiredly. "If dad didn't keep up Capsule Corp. I don't know how I'd be able to handle everything."

"Well I'm sorry you have to do all that, dear! If there's any way I can help just let me know!"

Bulma shifted in her seat and smiled painfully. "Thanks, mom but I've got to get going. We have to re stock food again."

"Ok dear have fun!" Mrs. Briefs turned and walked back outside, glass in hand.

Bulma sighed and went outside to her air car. The bright yellow car glared in the sun as Bulma fired it up and headed out. She concentrated on the road, not wanting to think about her miserable situation at home. Of course she had never been happier to see her house after the events on Namek, being a frog hadn't been fun, but there was certainly something missing. She had been (almost) on her own, and had kind of liked being away from the world for a little while. Now that she was back with her parents…. Well, it was taking some getting used to.

At least she had the androids to keep her mind off of her problems. Just a few days ago she had thought of making a switch to deactivate the robots. She figured that the technology used to create them must be far superior to what she had, but in time she would be able to work out the kinks and hopefully help everyone to defeat the coming threat. Between that and Vegeta she had little time to herself, but she didn't mind. The earth was in jeopardy, and she was ready to help.

Another problem appeared as she was checking out. She had finished pushing the fourth cart of precariously stacked food at the cashier and was about to whip out her card when she heard a very familiar voice. She turned to see Yamcha and a pretty brunette kissing.

"YAMCHA?!" She shrieked, almost dropping her wallet.

"Bulma!" Yamcha choked out, stepping back from the woman next to him. "What- what are you doing here?"

"I don't believe this!" Bulma continued as if she hadn't heard him. "I'm busy for two days and you move on to the first slut you see!"

"Hey!" The brunette said angrily. "I'm no slut! Its not my fault you can't hang on to a man!"

Bulma rounded on her, "You can keep this one, he's not worth it!" She turned from the couple and tossed the boy hiding behind his cash register her card. "Bill me and ship it to this address." Bulma stormed out to her car and raced for home, drying her eyes only after she knew she was far enough away.

Vegeta gasped for air. Working and 350 times gravity was taking its toll. He could barely gather enough energy to stay walking, let alone fight off a robot and his own Ki blast. The only thing that kept him going was the sight of Kakkarot standing across from the boy from the future. His hair was bright yellow and his entire essence crackled with power. He was smirking and easily deflecting the boy's swings with a sword as if it was nothing. That was Vegeta's glory, Vegeta's birthright. Given to a man with no allegiance to their Saiyan race, no experience. He was a level three dog who had somehow, impossibly, surpassed the prince.

He drilled himself to the breaking point, spending day and most of the night perfecting his skills and fighting for his life. Kakkarot's presence was always there and always above him.

He fell again, the gravity taking a toll on his body. He could barely fill his lungs with air but smirked through the pain. The more the better, the more the closer. He struggled up and flew into the air as a bot fired at the spot where he was crouching. He sucked in as much air as he could and screamed, raising his power level to seventy percent of his maximum. He gathered an energy beam in his hand and sluggishly threw his beam at another of the four bots. It was easily caught and bounced back at him. His eyes widened with shock. He crossed his arms defensively across his chest and powered up to his maximum. The blast exploded and shook the interior of the gravity room. Vegeta lowered his arms slowly and looked around. Good, everything had stayed in tact. He lowered to the ground and turned off the gravity. He walked past the four grounded bots and stepped out of the room.

The woman had made improvements to the bots at some point of time. They should not have been able to block a blow of that kind. He was pleased with the improvement, but he couldn't have the room breaking down on him like last time. He entered the main capsule corp. mansion and sought out Bulma's ki. He locked on and made his way through the labyrinth that was his temporary home.

Bulma sat heavily on the boxes of food that had just been dropped at her house. The boy at the cashier must have warned them to be nice to her, because when they had dropped off the boxes they had smiled and tried to cheer her up. It hadn't worked and Bulma wished she had never felt the need to go shopping. Still, she guessed that it was about time their relationship had ended. Yamcha had cheated on her one to many times in the past. Her not-so-charming-prince had to become history.

She started opening the boxes and placing items in their proper places. She stashed food underneath the sink for anytime during the next month she might feel the need for some comfort food.

The door to the Kitchen banged open, and Vegeta entered, his arms crossed. Bulma continued working as if he wasn't there until she realized something. She rifled through the bags and pulled out a bar of soap. "This is for you." She said matter-of-factly, holding it out to him.

He looked startled and stared at the off white slippery blob in her hand without moving to take it. "What?"

"I don't know if you're familiar with the word hygiene, but here it usually means showering. It may be difficult for you to understand but here on earth we don't act like animals." Since he wasn't taking the soap so she set it on the counter to the right of him and continued sorting through food.

"I don't need a stupid woman such as yourself to tell me what to do." Vegeta growled.

"Well this stupid woman keeps your gravity up and running and your food stocked." Bulma snapped, "So I wouldn't suggest making me mad."

Before Bulma could think she was up against a wall. Vegeta's hand was around her throat and her feet were flailing a good foot about the ground. Panic-stricken, she kicked wildley only to have her legs pressed against the wall under Vegeta's other arm. He smirked triumphantly, "Let's re think that, woman." He growled. He dropped her down onto the ground and she collapsed with her back against the wall. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back up to face him.

A shiver ran down Bulma's back when she realized how close Vegeta was. His body was practically on top of hers, and even though he was the same height as her she felt like he was towering over her. She stared into his cold black eyes with real fear and… something else….

Vegeta noticed her shiver and inwardly chuckled. He liked the way she reacted to him. He wanted to get closer, to see how much he could affect her… He jerked backwards slightly but returned before she could tell he had moved. What the hell was wrong with him? He stared at Bulma, at how close they were and felt a surge of desire, something he defiantly didn't expect to feel for this woman. "Structural repairs need to be made to the gravity room." He said gruffly and suddenly Bulma was alone.

Bulma collapsed onto the ground and breathed in and out slowly. She had to have imagined her heart pounding with excitement, not fear. It was all a trick of fear, all of it. No other explanation made sense. Still, she could not get the feeling of his body close to hers out of her head. She sighed and left the kitchen. An afternoon locked in her lab would make her feel better; she didn't want to have to the think about her confusing feelings.

Two hours later, Bulma had come no closer to a solution to her emotions than a solution to the overwhelming technology she was trying to tackle. She threw down her pen and rubbed her temples. "WOMAN!" Vegeta roared, pounding on the door of her lab. Her heart leapt into her throat and she instantly latched on to her desk. Her data crumpled underneath her grasp and she let go, cursing to herself. Vegeta pounded on the door a second time and demanded that she show herself. She opened the door and jumped. Vegeta was right there, glaring at her. Something had pissed him off, and now he was out for blood.

"What do you want, Vegeta?" Bulma demanded, hiding her fear behind falsely confident blue eyes.

"I had said that I wanted the gravity room fixed." Vegeta growled impatiently, "Not two hours later. I have to train now, and every moment wasted is another moment I could have been preparing to save your pathetic planet. If you don't as I say the minute I say it from now on I'll just kill you and find a better replacement."

"There is no one better than me and you know it, Vegeta. I'm working towards defeating the androids as well. But I doubt you're actually worried about the androids as much as beating Goku. Or, at least, that's what you say."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Vegeta asked, his voice was dangerously calm.

"I think you want to be good, or you want to try to save people instead of kill them for once."

Vegeta frowned angrily, "There is no good in me, woman. Just do what I say." He walked away from her, seething and not knowing exactly why he was so angry. How could her words affect him in that way?

Bulma watched Vegeta retreat and sighed. She went into her lab and picked up her toolbox. She didn't know what was wrong with the gravity room. Vegeta had said that it needed structural repairs but if that was true she would need more than her toolbox.

She exited her house and crossed the grass to the huge GR. It was badly beaten, and it broke Bulma's heart to see her creation destroyed, but she was more concerned about why it was so badly beaten. "What happened?" She looked Vegeta over but there were no physical injuries that she could see and there was no falter in his movement.

Vegeta frowned as if the question bothered him, but responded, "A combination of your robots, Ki blasts, and me."

"Do you even know when to stop, in case you kill yourself?" Bulma asked. Her voice was on the edge of anger. He didn't seem to care about what happened to him as long as he beat Goku.

"I can tell for myself when I should quit." Vegeta didn't add that he usually disregarded his own warnings and continued training. "Just repair the thing, woman. I'm behind enough as it is."

By just looking at it, Bulma could tell that it was going to take more than a simple patch job to fix the thing, but she went inside anyway. She wanted to make sure Vegeta didn't kill himself, and there was only one way to do that.

The inside of the GR was worse than the outside. There were dents everywhere, and her bots were almost dead. She went over to the main controls and opened the top. After fiddling around for five minutes, she had completed her task and closed it up. Still, she had to tell Vegeta the bad news.

Bulma walked out into the sun and sighed. Vegeta was standing with his arms crossed. He seemed to know that there was a problem, but didn't say anything. "Vegeta, this is going to take more than one day. I'll need at least a week to fix this thing."

Vegeta looked pissed. "And you couldn't just do it right the first time?" He asked dangerously.

"I'm sorry, I know how much you need to train but unless you want to be buried again, I would find some other way to train for the next week.

"This is the first and last time I will allow this." Vegeta growled. "Don't screw it up again, woman." He powered up and flew away.

Bulma sighed in relief. She had been sure that Vegeta was going to hurt her, but apparently he didn't want to. She smiled. _He has good in him, whether he likes it or not._ She headed inside and immediately started gathering men and supplies. Vegeta may have good in him, but she didn't want to test his patience if she didn't have to.

Vegeta flew through the air, headed for the mountains. His jaw was tense and his fists were closed tight. He could practically feel his eyes burning with anger. Still, unbelievably, he had been able to control himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! I know, its been a little while, and I've all but beat my head against a wall to get this story out for you amazing people who have read it! Thanks for the feedback, by the way! Its great! I'm trying to decide whether or not to have longer stories once a month or so, or shorter stories like once every two weeks, maybe even one. (by long I mean 10-15 pages, by short I mean 4-6 pages.)

I was wondering if someone could give me the history between Goku and Bulma before Dragonball Z. (I know there's not much there, but I'm rusty on facts and I could use some help) Thanks:D

I don't own anything!………Unfortunately……………….

Bulma sat at the top of the huge gravity room with her legs folded beneath her and her weight balanced over the top of the last white slab that would complete her project. Her men were waiting at the base, looking up at her concernedly with their lunches in their hands. "Come on!" she grunted, pushing the slab to no effect. She gasped for air and tried again, practically yelling with fury when nothing happened.

"Hey-do you need some help up here?" Bulma turned to snap at her hired help for even suggesting she needed help but the words got caught in her throat.

The man –he couldn't be more than 25- was overall unbelievably hot with brown eyes and hair like Goku's, only tamer. He was tan, tall, and muscular.

"Um…"Bulma cast around for something to say but found nothing. She reached up to brush her hair away from her face, having completely forgotten her need for balance. She started falling foreword slowly but gradually picked up speed. She shrieked, but suddenly a pair of strong arms picked her up from around her waist and pulled her back to safety.

"Careful, Miss Briefs!" The man cried, "here let me get that in for you." He let a bewildered Bulma down and walked over to the slab.

"I can do it!" Bulma insisted, but stopped short when he brought his foot down hard on the slab and locked it into place.

Bulma stared at him open-mouthed for the second time. He had made it look easy! "Thanks." She said shortly. Her pride was injured slightly, but she had to admit he was extremely hot.

"Your welcome, Miss Briefs" he smiled warmly, seemingly unaware of her cruel tone and gestured towards the ladder at the other end of the newly completed GR. "lets go down, shall we?"

Bulma smiled back, "Call me Bulma" she said with a flirtatious bat of her eyes. The man's unyielding kindness was infectious and reminded her of a certain Saiyan warrior with no IQ and a love for life.

The man looked slightly surprised but quickly recovered with a gulp. "I'm Ross, Ross Margin." He led her to the ladder and helped her down. When they were on ground again, they stared proudly up at their project. Bulma had finished, and with one day to spare.

Not that she could count on that day of peace. With Vegeta's ability to travel faster than the speed of light she assumed he could have been monitoring her every step of the way. The thought gave her chills and she turned to stare into the sky. Clouds floated in a sea of deep blue over the roof of Capsule Corp., but no Saiyan prince could be seen.

Some part of her felt disappointed. Why, she had no idea. Certainly the idea of the prince watching her was far from comforting, but she wasn't upset by it. In fact, she was almost… intrigued. Maybe she just wanted him back because she missed worrying about him constantly. His total disregard for his own life was infuriating. But still, the fact that he would stay and defeat the androids was proof that he had some goodness left in him. Even though he said he was here to defeat Goku. She knew he wasn't really waiting three years to defeat her best friend.

She stared back at the Gravity Room. For some reason, the sight of it angered her. She turned to her workers and saw the perfect opportunity to vent. "Finally! It took you guys long enough! Now WHAT are you still doing here?! Get you paychecks and GET OUT!!" She yelled, shaking her fist in the air for no apparent reason.

The men scampered, running though the huge doors that led to the inside of Capsule Corps. In less than five minutes she was alone. She turned to the GR's smooth white surface and sighed. Why had she even bothered trying? Vegeta would probably say nothing to her; just go back to drilling himself from sunrise to sunset. He would kill himself someday, she was sure of it.

The woman had finished surprisingly early. Vegeta had gone back to see how far she had gotten, expecting to see a half completed gravity machine. What he found was shocking but pleasing. She must have had to rush her slaves around all week to finish the project for him. It was unsettling for some reason, but he brushed aside any uneasiness. Soon, he would be able to return and continue his training. Going to the Everest Mountain, as humans called it, was good for body endurance but did nothing for technique. He preferred the Gravity room much more.

She turned quickly, and Vegeta fazed to behind Capsule Corp.'s roof. He didn't really care whether or not he saw her, but no one saw him unless he chose to reveal himself.

After the project was deemed finished, Vegeta had planned to return to his mountain and come back after that day, but something about the way Bulma addressed the workers intrigued him. She was ferocious, more like a Saiyan women than she knew. He flew above her, watching her stare up at the Gravity Room. What was she thinking about? His stomach twisted. Was she thinking about him?

Vegeta brushed away those thoughts, but couldn't ignore the weird feeling he was getting from looking down at her. She wheeled around and entered Capsule Corp. after the workers. Vegeta had half a mind to follow her, but decided that there was no reason to, and flew off to continue his training. He had wasted enough time as it was. Still, Vegeta thought as he flew, on Freeza's ship he had been treated with distain. He was laughed at and rarely taken seriously. Now everyone feared him. He smirked evily. He was powerful, one of the strongest in the universe because Freeza was dead. He laughed cruelly as he flew, letting his voice ring though the mountains.

It upset her, she realized as she speed walked down her hallway to her lab. Vegeta shouldn't have had to go through all that she knew he had, and she knew that once he probably had the desire to do good things in his life, but the way he was raised changed him. She stopped at her lab and locked herself in. She picked up the schematics for her latest try at the android deactivation switch. It would take a while, she figured. She sighed and got to work. Even if she worked on it all day for two weeks it wouldn't be close to being done, and this was only her first try! Bulma sighed. At least it was something to take her mind away from her concern for Vegeta.

Life continued on for the next hour or so with little gain. Bulma was kneading her temples with soar fingers when there was a light tap at her door. She raised her head slightly and stared at her door, wondering if she wanted to see anyone right now. A second knock, slightly louder this time made her stand and open the door.

"Hey, sweetie." Bunny had changed into normal cloths, but looked more distressed than before.

"What's wrong mom?" Bulma moved out of her lab and closed the door. Her mother led her to their living room. Bulma turned to face her mother with concern.

"I just heard about you and Yamcha, and-"

"Oh!" Bulma collapsed on the couch with relief. "Mom, you don't have to worry about that!" She leaned on her knees, "I haven't even thought about him that much!" Bulma stopped. She looked at the floor in surprise. She really hadn't thought of him. Other things had preoccupied her thoughts… No. She knew why she hadn't thought of Yamcha. Her thoughts had been on Vegeta. They had always been on Vegeta.

"Oh, that's good dear! I just wanted to make sure you were ok before I told you about your father's trip!" Bunny beamed down at her daughter excitedly.

Bulma looked up confusedly. "What trip?"

"You father has a business trip, he and I will be gone for two weeks!"

Bulma jumped up from the couch, "What?!"

"Dear, don't worry! You won't have to do anything!" Bunny seemed surprised by Bulma's reaction but hid it behind a smile.

"But… But.." Bulma's mind seemed stuck on one face. Two weeks alone with Vegeta….

"Bulma, you'll be fine! Now, we're leaving early tomorrow morning so you'll have to arrange breakfast of some kind…."

Bunny continued speaking, but Bulma wasn't listening anymore. Her mind was reeling. It wasn't a big deal, she told herself. The trip would be over in no time and they would be home. No reason to worry.

"That sounds good, mom." Bulma cut off whatever Bunny was saying sharply, "I'm sure you'll have fun." She walked quickly out of the room.

Bunny watched her daughter leave. She knowledgeably let her daughter leave and walked out to the front of her house to direct the crew moving her luggage to their private jet.

Bulma's foot connected with her bedroom door. It swung back hard and slammed into the wall behind it. She entered and closed the door behind her. She immediately started pacing back and forth. Two weeks. Two weeks. She slammed her foot down on the ground. _Come on! Two weeks! This shouldn't be bothering me so much._ Bulma opened her balcony window and let the sun warm her face. Vegeta would probably just stay in his gravity room the entire time. Bulma's mother wouldn't be around to make him eat with the rest of her family from time to time.

"I'm fine." Bulma said to the wind. It blew away from her with no reassurance. Bulma sighed and sat in one of her white sun tanning chairs. Her bouncy curls were fading and her hair was finally starting to look normal. She combed through it with her fingers and leaned back. She didn't want to think about anything but the sun on her face.

_Air rushed by her, whipping her straight blue hair out behind her. She looked down to see land rushing by. She was almost touching the clouds, but she didn't scream. In fact, she wasn't scared at all. Strong arms were around her waist. She was warm and happy, happier than she could ever have imagined. She turned to face the man holding her. He looked back at her with an amused expression on his face. His deep black eyes were warm for once, and his face seemed more alive than ever before. _

_Bulma raised her hand to touch his face, and he leaned forward. His lips pressed against hers gently, and her heart soared. _

_Cold. Sudden, harsh, unforgiving coldness. Bulma screamed now. Long, loud. She needed him to hear her, save her before she fell into oblivion. He was before her, falling with her. He had blood trailing from his mouth, but he couldn't see anything but her. He reached out for her, his arm was shaking. She tried to reach him, but suddenly he jerked back, horror and fear in his eyes. He screamed, a horrible noise that she couldn't bear to hear. He blazed with bright yellow light, and his eyes turned a horribly cold blue. She remembered Goku's eyes as a super Saiyan, warm and powerful. As Vegeta stared at her, she saw why he was feared. Before her was a true Saiyan. _

_WOMAN!_

Bulma jerked out of her chair and groaned. Her muscles were soar from sleeping in the wrong position. Her mind whirled as she stared at the sun, low in the sky. She turned and came face to face with a pissed off Saiyan.

"What- Vegeta?" Bulma squinted at him and looked around questioningly. "What time is it? What _Day_ is it?"

"Stupid woman. You sleep like a log and think slower than one. Its seven o'clock, your ridiculous parents are not here and it's the end of your week. I want to see my gravity room, and I want food."

"What?! They left?" Bulma shot past Vegeta and down the stairs. Sure enough, she couldn't find her father and mother anywhere. "Damn it! Two weeks alone! I didn't even get to say goodbye before they left." Bulma ranted, circling around the island in the kitchen.

Vegeta appeared in front of her and she ran right into him. She yelped and jumped back, clutching her forehead. "Some warning would be nice! You're like a brick wall!"

"I demand to know what you're talking about. Who's gone for two weeks?"

"My parents, they went on vacation!" Bulma exclaimed.

Vegeta smirked. "Finally, I don't have to listen to you mother. _She's_ the brick wall."

"Laugh now, _Prince_. She did more than you know. Its going to be disgusting takeout food for two weeks because she's gone." Bulma said almost smugly. She laughed evilly inside. _I could just order restaurant food, but I'd rather see him mad._ "Here, I'll order breakfast, and you can go out back to see you gravity machine.

Vegeta grunted in approval and disappeared again. Bulma sighed and went to the phone.


End file.
